the Price of Youth Football

The Youth Football Organization in our area provides several weeks of daily practice, strength and conditioning workouts, coaching and some of the pads and equipment needed to play this full contact sport. They organize the kids into teams and set up the schedules for games and officials. Each player must purchase their own helmet and jersey in addition to the sign up cost. Our area has quite a few teams, so we don't have to do much traveling, which is a nice bonus. You get one game a week and once games starts, it goes down to about 2-3 practices each week. They also have a cheerleader program going at the same time, so it feels like a real football game with lots of fans.

All in all it is a pretty good program and a great way for a boy to try football and see if it is the sport for him. It is a little less contact than actual football at this age level, which some of the kids hate, but as a parent, I am happy that they have some extra rules for protection as the kids are learning how to hit appropriately. The coaches are dads with kids on the teams and they do their best. There is not much time for individualized attention, but they split them up into teams according to their positions and for offense or defense. They actually learn some basic plays and skills. So I think it is worth the investment at the younger ages.

Make sure your child is ready for contact sports and keep an eye on their water intake. Kids at this age really need to be monitored at first, to be sure they keep hydrated and healthy. If you are aware of that you will help them avoid some common injuries as they build their strength and endurance.